For Want of a Nail
by Azabache180
Summary: To change oneself you have to change the past, a fool once said. In a ravage future without hope Naruto cling to a desperate possibility to correct his mistakes, but time travel was something never done and in the end he find himself in a much different Konoha, but his goal stay the same, protect his love ones even at all cost. AU, politics, scheme and war


For Want of a Nail

Prologue

They were hidden in an old cave, in the ruins of Uzushiogakure, his mother homeland **,** the last six months has been erratic always on the lookout hidden like rats. For the past two years they have been traveling the world, the last survivors as they often called themself in joke, but the group that once was massive was now reduced to only two members, they thought they could change the situation if the worked together, if tried hard enough they could save every one, what a bunch of fools they were. That naive way of thinking maybe could have work against a different enemy, but when you are faced against something and not someone, common sense did not work

"Naruto, hurry up!" was the ragged screen that took him out of his thoughts. Shit, they were here.

"Hold them up Sakura" Naruto said trough the intercom, the seal was not ready yet, the were some details that needed to be polish and some strokes were half finish but the seal was almost ready, he only need a bit more of time "I need more time, can you do it?" he asked, knowing that maybe that will be the last request he would make out of her

A brief silent filled with static was the only answer he got

But shortly after Sakura voice spoke again "Naruto, are you sure this will work?" she quietly asked, her voice sounded unsure but at the same time filled with hope

Naruto though what to answer, he could not give her assurance that him himself did not have it, this seal was one of the most complex of works he has seen, based on the Hirashin original formula, his father master piece and Jiraiya life work, this was not a novice level seal, not, the level of work put behind this seals were astonishing, it took him a year to decipher the meaning behind them only to realize that it was not complete, Jiraiya last work was incomplete.

Engineered as a formidable offensive technique that would surpass the Hirashin and negate all of its downside, this seal formula that Jiraiya work on was half finish, probably he saw that it was maddens, for what he understood of the array of seal what Jiraiya meant to do was short of impossible or maybe his old mentor die before finishing it o he gave up, either way, when Naruto figure out the scroll his madness begun, in the end this scroll became his obsession, his last effort, the only way to fix thing up...to save every one

"Yes, Sakura, I know it will work, believe it" he lied, there was the only thing he could do, how can he said that he did not know? If he said that if he believe that, then all the sacrifices made to buy him time were in vain

"I am glad" Sakura said in relief like a thousand weight were lifted of her shoulder "I believe you Naruto, gods know I do, I will buy all the time I can, please finish you work I am counting on you" the girl said but before cutting of the communication she said "I love you"

"I know you do, and I love you too" answered Naruto in a sad tone knowing very well this was goodbye

"I wish they were here, they would have..." she trailed off bur not for long, Naruto cut her off and in a strong determinate voice, he said

"I will fix thing up Sakura, I will, not matter the cost, you, the girls, and everyone we love will not suffer this, I promised you" that was his promised the promised of a lifetime something he hold up until his last breath that was his ninja way

"I will hold you onto that, Good bye Naruto"

"Good Bye Sakura"

and with that the communication was cut off, the radio went silent leaving him all alone again to work on the seal, but his heart felt heavy he wanted to cry, to scream like a madman that it was not fair, how many years it took him to make Sakura see him, to open up to him, to love him like he always dreamed only to lose her like this it really was not fair, but this was not the moment to swallow himself in self-pity, he had work to do

outside massive shockwaves shake the earth, even him, inside this concealed secret cave could feel them, he could sense the massive amount of chakra that was been thrown out outside, it felt like a war was been waged outside, but he knew it was only Sakura and her godlike strength, it look like she has started to work

Shaking his head, he cleared his mind because he needed an empty head to work on the seal, any mistake could be fatal, and working with untested seals was like walking with Dead itself. And without wasting any more time he resumed his work immersing himself in the obscure art that is fuinjutsu, one of the most , if not the most, difficult ninja art to master, many used, bomb seals, storage seals chakra seals, those were common in the line work of a ninja you could go to a ninja store and buy a few if you could afford them since it only required to put chakra into them to make them work but few people could really understand seals and fewer could reach a point to make their own seals, his father and Jiraiya were one of those, and now him too after months studying seals using massive hordes of Shadow clones he had reached that level, but beyond that were the select ones that reach a level of understanding that they could use seals as a combat method, his mother family were one of the select one, that knowledge took them to their extinction, the villages feared their power, the power to destroy armies as if they were ants using only seals, for the Uzumaki they never exceled in ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu o kenjutsu, or did have any doujutsu like the Uchihas o Hyugas, not, their strength lied in their huge chakra reserves, superior vitality and stamina and of course their secret knowledge of seals, that is why he spent the last six months searching in these desolated wasteland that once was the Uzumaki homeland in hope to find the knowledge to finish his seal, the last key to their salvation, knowledge he had found in this hidden cave, frozen in time that survive the ravage of Uzu.

Unlike Ninjutsu, that was the art of harness the energy of oneself to manipulate the matter, Genjutsu that centered on manipulating the mind and senses, fuinjutsu centered in manipulating time and space, both concept were ambiguous at its best, were time and space two separated entities, of the they were one?, that was one of the primordial question of the art, sure you could make other thing with fuinjutsu but the origin of the art lies in that question, but to Naruto it was arrogance, for they were not gods to play with time, time was unstoppable, something humans could never conquer, arrogance that he was now part of, and right now he was about to challenge the gods

"A little more" he whispered to himself giving the last stroke to the seal. The seal in question had been drawn on the cave floor, unlike a normal cave were the floor probably would had been of gravel, this cave had been special to the Uzumaki, in here they practice their art, and their secret rituals, that why the floor was made of solid white concrete specially made for the purpose of drawing seals on it "that's it" he said stopping, the seal was done and at the same time the noise outsides stopped, the shockwaves died and he could no longer feel Sakura, the girl he loved was not more

A lonely tear escaped his eye, he could no longer feel sadness he was numb to it at this point, regretted was the only emotion that occupied his hearth

"Kid hurry they are here" Kurama said in an alarmed tone, sensing strange presences in the outside of the cave

"How many old friend?" Naruto asked curious wanting to know of many Sakura took out before going now, and inside wishing to be few so he could extract his vengeance before activating the seal, a stupid wish but one that Sakura deserved

But in the end it was only a wish, for Kurama said

"Too many Naruto, it like he brought everyone here, we cannot take it"

"Fuck him to all the hells" he cursed but that was the only thing he could do to her

Without any more delays he went to the center of the seal, a circular area design it as the

Lever of the seal, the go bottom. The seal was massive occupying the huge floor and part of the wall as well, he had worked on this beauty for a month and it was time to know if he did not waste his time...and his friend lives

"This is it Kurama, there is no turning back"

"No kid, this is all we have left" said the tail beast "any regrets?"

"You have no idea buddy" he answered thinking back in all the mistake he had made that lead him to his point and the people that had caused all the wrong in the world

there was Pain, the fool, how he dream got twisted but he could understand him he was the same, them it was Danzo and his stupid goal, his ego and supremacy how he lead Konoha to a civil war that burn the village to the ground, Obito and his ghosts, Orochimaru and his immortality, Sasuke and his vengeance, Sasuke was his brother but he fail him, how things turned so wrong because of that mistake?, but in the end his biggest enemy was himself, he and his stupid dream, the kid of the prophecy his ass, how much of a fool a person can be? he believe that he truly did, he did everything he could to make that dream come true, but in the end his dream betray him, hope turned into despair, happiness into ash and his dream turned into his biggest mistake, but now he knew better, mankind could not find peace it was against their nature the will never find peace because they did not wanted, peace means stagnation, stagnation brings dead, and ninja were mean to endure, so the only way to reach a understating was trough domination, because fear was bigger than hope

Let them hate along as the fear he once read, so if war was the only way of to protect those he loved, them he will kill all his enemy until his loved ones were safe, they were worth the price

He will see to that

"Ready Kurama?" asked Naruto standing in the middle of the center, they invaders were already outside the array of doors his time was running out

"I always am" he said

"good, then give me all you chakra" he ordered closing his eyes waiting for the influx of energy, energy required to make the seal work, to power this massive engine that was his time machine

The biggest taboo in fuinjutsu

"Understood kid, and good luck see you on the other side o should y say see you in the past" and with that sentence Kurama gave all his power to Naruto losing his conscience

The medium was there, the energy too, now he only need the sacrifice

taking out a kunai out of his holster he cut his palm deep, a stream of crimson blood pour ot of the wound falling on the floor and into the seal, when the blood touched the special ink this absorbed the vital energy and like a Christmas tree the seal power up illuminating the whole cavern in a bluish light

"See you on the other side too buddy" he said to the empty space and wiout warning he hit the floor with his other palm pouring all his chakra into the seal every single drop of energy, none was spared for he need this to work

And in a blind light and a thunderous sound sound Naruto Uzumaki was not more

When the invades breached the cavern the only found a empty space and a weird and burned array of seal

Prologue

End

A/N: a timeline travel fic, not a time travel, and not a fix it fic, the cannon for this Naruto will be explained alongside the story it is not the same one like in the manga something were different, in this Naruto is not the naive one of the manga, he has seen true war, betrayal, and experience tragic losses and have a few trauma and a couple of lose screw, so expect the unexpected, for this fic you could expect to see ninja being true ninja, war, conflict, politics, schemes mystery, for pairings there will be in the future, if you like what you read leave a comment, see you later


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